Beulah-Hazen qualifies for Class B state duals

By Jarann Johnson
Beulah-Hazen locked in a spot in the Class B state duals for the second consecutive year. Earning the berth wasn’t easy and, for the second consecutive year, getting to state meant winning a challenge match to secure the spot.
Beulah-Hazen opened the tournament with a bye in the first round because of their No. 2-seed. The top two seeds in the tournament received an open round bye.
Beulah-Hazen drew Bowman County for the semifinals. The dual started at 220 with senior Denzel Sanders winning via forfeit.
The forfeit put Beulah-Hazen up 6-0 after one match. Neither team fielded a heavy weight, so the score remained in Beulah-Hazen’s favor, 6-0, when the dual approached the 106 weight class.
Matt Scheer, a seventh-grader, tried to make sure Beulah-Hazen stayed in the lead, but was pinned by Jacoby Mattern in 1 minute and 1 second. The pin tied the team score at 6-6.
Getting through the light weights proved tough for Beulah-Hazen. Rylan Sago, a seventh-grader, was also pinned during his match.
Sago fell to DJ Martian in 1:23, putting Bowman County ahead, 12-6. Bowman County pushed their lead to18-6 because of a forfeit. Beulah-Hazen Head Coach James Porter wisely hid Jeremy Leintz in the lineup, which meant Bowman couldn’t save their best light weight for Leintz.
Bowman knew things were going to get tougher, though, because the rest of Beulah-Hazen’s line-up was made of experienced high school wrestlers, starting with returning state-placer Leintz.
Leintz, a junior, wrestled at 120 and earned a 1:33 pin over Cole Schmalz to pull his team within six points, 18-12.